Angel Tree 2010: Part 2

PublishedDecember 16, 2010

The other two cards I chose listed items I thought would be easy to locate, but instead turned into an online adventure.

Girl’s long-sleeved dress size 12-14

I pity you if you have a tween girl. The clothing selection out there is downright disgusting. Dresses were either cheap looking, cheaply made, or inappropriate for this age girl in my opinion. I went to Filene’s, H&M, Old Navy (online), GAP Kids, Macy*s, and Marshalls. I came up with one option, which was a Ralph Lauren Polo dress for $36. Once again, I wasn’t buying a child a dress more expensive that some of the dreses I wear to work each day.

Holy cow Land’s End, what is up with your sizing? The dress was large enough, including the length, for me to wear. The Fiancé thought the pattern looked a little like Homer Simpson’s muu muu. And then someone at the church gift wrapping party (more on that below) mentioned some girls get party dresses and others get such practical dresses. And those girls are often sisters.

Luckily, I brought my dress wrapped so she couldn’t see the hot little number I purchased. I still felt so ashamed!

Girls’ long-sleeved white school uniform polo, size 16

I called three different area stores to see if they had polos in stock, but I guess this isn’t a big item after the school year begins. I added this to my Land’s End cart for $19.50.

I used Want Not’s Land’s End free shipping code. My total for all four of my adopt-a-family tags was $97.01 which the Fiancé graciously split with me.

On Sunday afternoon, and then again Wednesday night since we didn’t complete it all, I wrapped the donated gifts with other volunteers from St. Matthews. Like I mentioned before, there were 31 families. I spent three hours wrapping Family 17’s gifts, alone. Do you know how hard it is to wrap shirts and sweaters when there aren’t gift boxes? I was relieved when I discovered my already wrapped sweater dress buried in the pile.